Life Goes On
by E B Darcy
Summary: One Shot. Bella's POV. What would happen if Edward never came back in New Moon?


**Hopefully it's not too confusing. Enjoy. PS, I don't own any of the ****characters,**** they are purely ****Stephenie's****, although I wish I had thought of it myself!**

I pulled up into one of the only free parking spaces left. My old truck barely made the squeeze, but luckily it didn't quite hit the cars around it. I turned off the ignition and jumped out, taking my backpack with me. I did a quick and hopeful scan of the parking lot; my eyes found exactly what I was looking for- Edward's bronze hair was dancing playfully in the wind. He was leaning up against his car, grinning at me. I felt my face break into a smile also. It had been a week since I had last seen him; his family had taken a trip up to Denali. Edward was back two days earlier than he said he would be.

"Bella, I missed you," he said. I ran up to hug him, yearning for the feel of his cool body against mine. My body fit snugly into the contours of his and I felt his cold arms wrap around my torso. I looked up, my face mere centimeters away from his.

"I know, I'm just irresistible," I joked, really knowing it was the other way around. I leaned my head against his chest again as the relief of being in his arms rushed through me. "It was so deathly dull up in Alaska. I can barely survive without you for five days," he said.

"I love you," I said and reached up for a quick kiss. My heart beat a little faster as I felt his icy lips on mine. "I love you more than anything in the whole world," he said, taking my hand and leading me towards the school buildings. I couldn't help but grin like an idiot just at the feeling of his hand wrapped over mine. I went through the day in a happy daze. He reached for my hand under the table during class, and we snuck quick kisses in the hall between periods.

He drove me home after school; we quickly did our homework and the rest of the afternoon was ours to enjoy. "What do you want to do?" he asked. I gazed up at him, thinking hard. For some reason, I felt as if this afternoon had to be memorable, like I never wanted it to leave my memory. "Will you take me running?" I asked.

"Of course," he said, his mouth curving upward in a lopsided grin. He took my hand and led me towards the truck, opening the passenger side open for me. "Uh, you never let me drive!" I said.

"Well, I figured it was safer this way. Since I'm so utterly handsome and you just can't seem to keep your eyes off me, you make a terrible driver." His smirk turned serious. "I don't want you to get hurt," he added.

"Hmph," I couldn't exactly contradict him, since it would be flat out lying, even though I knew he was kidding. Well, about the handsome thing anyways. We followed a little road deep into the woods and he found a place to park alongside the road. He was at my door before I had time to take my seatbelt off. I reached down to grab his hand, but instead he swept me up into his arms. "Edward!" I protested, secretly enjoying myself. He let out a small chuckle and leaned down to kiss me instead. I greedily leaned up and ran my fingers through his hair, becoming faint and dizzy.

Dizzy… dizzy… I lost consciousness.

I awoke with a start. I felt numb, woozy, and pained despite the medicine. It had been a dream. Lately, I lost consciousness a lot because of the medications that kept me alive and the pain to a minimum, and remembered years back, more clearly than ever. I remember Edward sometimes. Back when I was young he had been the only thing that mattered to me. I was so in love. **(Author's note: Sorry if this is confusing to you. Just pretend that he had never come back in New Moon, and the whole cliff diving/****volturi**** thing never happened, but he DOES love Bella.) **He was right about one thing though. As I got older, I couldn't remember him as well. I lost the sound of his beautiful velvety voice, the way his bronze hair made him stand out in a crowd, the perfectly hard muscles covering his body, the melody of the lullaby he wrote for me. Time healed. Partially. I got married. My husband died just a few months ago. I had two kids. Three grandkids.

I didn't need to look in the mirror to know that time had warped my physical appearance. Wrinkles covered my face and hands. My veins were translucent through my ever pale skin. My eyesight grew worse by the day, and illness trapped me to my bed. I was 87. Seven decades had passed since I had last seen Edward, yet I still dreamed of him every night. It was the only time I clearly saw his face, heard his laugh, felt his icy coldness. I was still very much in love with him. Dementia took away my memories, but his face, I could see clear as day.

I was probably the only one left in Forks who remembered the Cullens. They had never come back. The last time I had contact with any of them was that fateful day in the woods when he broke up with me. I had looked for Alice, I knew she would still talk to me. I wanted her to turn me into a vampire. Unfortunately, I never found her. Everyday before I became sick I relived the painful memories. I saw myself hanging out with Rosalie and Edward in the garage, or refereeing for Jasper and Emmett as they play-fought. I remembered the days when I would spend hours with Alice, talking about everything important and everything unimportant.

I was getting up to get a glass of water when Tommy, my youngest grandson, came bounding into my bedroom. "Grandma! Grandma! Wake up, we have new neighbors! One of them is here, he wants to meet you!"

"Let him in then," I said.

Tommy disappeared for a minute, reappearing with a young man, and then disappearing again to go play.

"Edward," I breathed.

"You look beautiful," he said. I grimaced. I had tubes all over my body and my silver hair was thinning. I could almost feel my wrinkles sadly sagging.

"You're back. Is it your entire family?" I asked, but inside me I felt myself trying to bottle up a hundred emotions threatening to spill out of me.

"I love you Bella," he said softly. "Remember, when I told you I didn't want you? Well I was lying. It hurt me so badly to leave you. I regret it every day of my life. It took me all the strength I possess not to come back and find you." I let one lone tear escape from me.

"I love you too," I whispered. I knew everything would be all right.

He leaned down and kissed me one last time.


End file.
